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The coincidences were too much to ignore.Both were 15-year-old girls. Both were students at Briggs High School. Both had been struck and killed by a car in almost the exact place near the school.

“I just broke down in tears,” said Brenda Castorano about the moment she learned of Ana Cecelia Martinez’s death on Friday.

Her daughter, Andrea Soria, had died the same way, in the same spot 12 years ago, she said last night.Martinez, a sophomore honor roll student, was crossing Briggs Road near Tedco Drive with a group of students at 7:56 p.m. Friday when she was struck by an SUV.

She was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where she died at 8:43 p.m.Martinez’s older brother, who declined to give his name, said his parents were unable to talk yesterday. He said they didn’t want to remember the pain and instead wanted to think about their memories of her.

“She really was special, a sweetheart,” he said, calling her an angel. Castorano knows what it’s like when the phone rings after a terrible accident. When her daughter was struck and killed 12 y ears ago, the mother petitioned for years and was successful in getting sidewalks installed. “It’s just insane. I’m shocked that this happened,” Castorano said.

“The whole neighborhood is completely shaken up. Andrea has come back to everybody’s minds after what happened.”

Although she lives in Cincinnati now, Castorano will make her annual trip back to Columbus on Monday.

It’s Andrea’s birthday, she said. And, as she does every year, Castorano will be at her daughter’s grave to light candles for the girl who would’ve turned 27.

“It’s been 12 years for me, and, yes, I function in life, I work full time and I have a decent life, but every day I cry,” she said.

“Every morning, I have a tear. But then I look in the sky, I tell my daughter I love her, and I go on.”

Castorano had an offer for the Martinez family.

“I’m there if they just need somebody to talk to, yell at, scream at,” she said. “I want them to know that I know how it feels.

They’re not alone. We may be strangers, but then again, we’re not.”Martinez’s friends also shouldn’t feel alone.Grief counselors were available yesterday for Briggs High School students and will be again on Monday. “This is a very tragic situation. The school is heartbroken,” said Jeff Warner, district spokesman.

Police identified the driver of the SUV as Cathern F. Benedetto, 70, of Columbus.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but alcohol and speed were not factors, said detective Christopher Bailey of the Columbus police accident investigation unit. Martinez was the second high-school girl to die in a traffic crash last week.

On Thursday night, Jasmine Sadiq, 17, was crossing Hamilton Road at Thompson Road with another teenager when she was struck by an SUV. She died at the scene. An 18-year-old man was taken to Grant Medical Center, where he is recovering.

Sadiq was a senior at Reynoldsburg’s Encore Academy, which focuses on arts, communication and design studies. That crash also remains under investigation.